got this girl a couple months ago, started with a small spot but appears to slowly be spreading, i want to know what is recommended for treatment. a couple scales have come off fully, but im struggling as it doesnt seem to look like scale rot. absolute newbie and my second snake ever. kept in a bioactive with arid soil which i have dried out over the last month as this has developed thinking it would help.
You’ll need to upload larger, more detailed photos for anyone to be able to see what’s going on. Belly photo needed to be able to tell if scale rot might be a possibility. A photo of the enclosure can also help.
I will start with a few questions. First off, what are your temperatures and humidity? How are you heating your enclosure? Are there any decor items with sharp edges?
hopefully this is better, her basking rock is hollowed out underneath and has sharp edges along with that bear skull being real and having teeth. heated with lamp and heating pad under the tank (northern canada so is colder here)
Is the heat pad controlled by a thermostat with probe? This is definitely damage of some sort, looks almost like she’s wedged herself into something and torn the skin/scales.
But since this started as a small spot and is now spreading. Would this still be indicative of a skin scrape?
If the item she’s scraping on is still in the enclosure/she’s still squeezing through the space while the wound is trying to heal, yes.
It looks to me like some kind of skin infection…. Since it’s spreading
heat pad is just an under tank heater, she has about 4-5 inch of soil and even with the warm side is on the cool end of range usually. im really starting to wonder if thats the rock basking spot because she goes under it constantly and i guess it is pretty sharp of an edge. let me get a pic brb
edit here, i think thats it, its allways covered but once i lifted it up i think that is it.
Then the sharp edge may indeed be the culprit. I would replace it and put some vitamin E on the skin for healing……
Yup! Could very well be! Definitely needs replacing!
Is the under tank heater controlled in any way? It should be on a thermostat with a probe between the mat and the outside of the enclosure. If not, they can overheat and cause burns. As for the decor, the basking rock does look sharp, has she been burrowing under it? My other thought was the bear skull. Since it is a real skull, it’ll have small openings such as the nose or at the base where the brain stem normally exits. She could also be squishing herself through there, if it’s big enough.
ok i took my dremel to that stone and smoothed it out for now, got it really smooth, the bear skull is blocked off at the brain stem and nose so she cant go in but she loves going through the zygomatic arches <3 im going to find a tile or something smoother for it but since it is so hard to keep the temp up there needs to be something that absorbs heat. also i often stick my hand in through the dirt under to touch the glass where the heat mat is and has never gotten too high just nice and warm but your right i should put a probe there so i dont have to do that all the time,
If she was my girl, I’d put her in a clean iso tub or tank for a little bit. No dirt or bark bedding. Maybe a little of the paper rodent bedding or carefresh. Just fluff it up a bit first and shake out the dust before putting it in the temp housing. That way she can still feel a little comfort and not just open space after being able to burrow. Something smooth and easy to clean for her hide for the moment too.
Give her a couple of good soaks to get the dirt and such to break away. You can give her a couple minutes to drink before adding some iodine to the water too. If you want to do a little antibiotic ointment (the kind without pain relievers) or Silver sulfadiazine to the area you could do that as well. I would make sure her water dish is a little shallow to keep her from getting the ointment stuff in her drinking water in case she tries to soak.
Honestly, her skin looks pretty good and would probably be find after just a little soak and some time in a clean place. I think she most likely did give herself a good scratch on something. When she has her next shed is when things will be up in the air a bit. She may just shed and be almost perfectly fine to go back to her usual enclosure… but if she sheds and the skin does peel a bit and look red or scabbed, she may need to stay in the clean one for a little longer while it heals a bit more.
If anything does change and the area looks swollen in an odd way, she starts getting a new sore somewhere or she starts seeming lethargic, I would get her to a vet just in case she needs an oral antibiotic. But if she’s otherwise acting normal and still eating, she should be good.